Looks like we aren't the only ones fed up with politicians. Tens of thousands of Russian protesters want Vladimir Putin out - latimes.com
Difference is the Russian people maintain a healthy revolutionary spirit which instills the fear of god in politicians and the majority of Americans are perfectly content to piss and moan online, stage the occasional protest, then continue on with the business of being sheep.
"Old Russians" (born before the 1980s or so,) are still traumatized by the old regime, and won't discuss anything more controversial than the weather or their children on the telephone, and that only with trusted relatives. It's the "New Russians," a term Russians themselves use, the younger set, who didn't grow up hearing screaming neighbors taken away by the NKVD or KGB at 2:00 AM from the apartment next door, who are the base of the protests.
Look at the time the terrorist had all those people in the theater. The Russain Goverment said they dont work with terrorist and pumped the theater full of poisonous gas. Killed everyone the Russian Goverment has always rulked with an iron fist. There will be alot of blood shed come out of this.
You talk about... I drove by the Nord Ost Theatre once, and remarked to a friend how sad it was. He said simply, "It had to be done." Not much "negotiate" in Ivan ! As Churchill observed, "Russia is not the easternmost of Western countries. It is the westernmost of Eastern countries." I read where some psychologist said the entire population (of "Old Russians") had been artificially turned into a nation of paranoid schizophrenics by the Stalinist regime. Seems like it. Such a shame, cuz personally, the ones I met and got to know were warm and giving... everybody kissed everybody like Southern kissin' cousins, and they laughed and drank like Cajuns ! On the other hand, chauvinism rules... a woman once told me while we were discussing the English word "husband," (the Russian word, "muzh," or "muzhnik" also connotes "macho!"), indicating that the man is understood and required to take care of the wife, that that concept is little understood in their culture. I mentioned that spousal abuse was a big deal in America. She said that if she went to the police with a bloody nose given her by her husband, the police would give her a funny look and ask why she was such a bad wife as to need that kind of treatment. And then tell her to quit bothering them with trivia. On the bright side, they don't let minorities run their country into the ground !
The Russian military is certainly a 'no nonsense' bunch, as we saw how they handled the Somali pirate problem. WE look too much to 'world opinion'. The Russkies take out the trash. Brutal, but t works. I find it fascinating how while the early Rus were descended from Swedish settlers, they quickly took on a decidedly 'eastern' culture.
